


Life After the Show

by Aiden_Ravelle



Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 15:51:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19833445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aiden_Ravelle/pseuds/Aiden_Ravelle





	Life After the Show

“Hiiro will be back this week,” Poppy reminded.

Emu nodded, remembering the day he left. Hiiro was heading back to America to get more experience in a different hospital as well as train the newer surgeons there. When he last saw him, Emu pulled Hiiro in for a kiss. Emu remembered the expression on Hiiro’s face and the way he said, “We can’t do this.” That was the last time he’d seen, or even talked to, Hiiro in two years.

“It’ll be good for the hospital to have him back,” Emu finally answered Poppy, “Though CR hasn’t had much going on.”

“We’ve managed to save a few people from the gashats,” Poppy reminded.

“The process is long and difficult. Plus, it’s the scientists doing all the work.”

Poppy nodded as she picked up a stack of folders and followed Emu to his appointments.

“Hiiro will be here soon,” The director entered CR with a large cake.

“We should cut it just to piss him off,” Nico joked.

“He’d probably just end up cutting you instead,” Taiga glanced at her.

“He better be careful or I’m going to cut him,” Parad appeared.

Emu rolled his eyes.

“He’s a part of CR just like you, we won’t have any fighting here,” Poppy announced.

Nico and Parad pulled up a game on the TV while Emu reminded, “Plus it’s a normal work day, so some of us have things to do.”

“I haven’t had many patients today,” Kiriya arrived.

“That’s a good thing,” the director answered.

“Well Emu and I have quite a few,” Poppy smiled.

“We’re still doing dinner tonight, right?” Kiriya rested his feet up on the table.

“Just like every Friday,” Nico nodded after she punched Parad for winning the mini game they were playing while the main game loaded.

Hiiro walked up the stairs and took in the chattering group.

“Welcome home!” Poppy exclaimed.

Hiiro just nodded, feeling a little awkward.

“Let’s have some cake then we can all get back to work,” The director smiled.

Hiiro nodded, quickly cut the cake into perfect slices and passed the plates around.

The room grew quiet as they ate.

“Emu, it’s time we go,” Poppy noticed the time. She quickly changed into her nursing uniform and grabbed a clipboard.

Emu washed his plate off in the sink before looking at Kiriya, “please keep it peaceful in here.”

“You put too must trust in me,” Kiriya smirked.

Emu shook his head before following Poppy to the pediatrics unit.

Later on his way back, Emu ran into Hiiro in the hall.

“Hey Hiiro.”

“Pediatrician.”

“The group goes to eat every Friday at the restaurant next door, if you want to come.”

“I’ll think about it,” Hiiro nodded before heading off.

Later that night Hiiro arrived at the restaurant a few minutes early, but he noticed Kiriya, Poppy, Nico and Taiga were already there.

“Who invited him?” Taiga frowned.

“Emu didn’t want anyone left out,” Poppy smiled. “How are you Hiiro?”

Hiiro just mumbled, “good.”

Emu arrived with Parad following him, “I’m glad you could make it.”

Hiiro stayed quiet most of the night, listening to the others talk about work and video games. The night came to a close and everyone headed on their way.

Hiiro walked into CR on Wednesday and noticed it was fully empty except Emu. He decided to finally ask, “Why do I get the feeling everyone is mad at me?”

Emu looked up at the other doctor, “They blame you for things that aren’t really your fault, even though I’ve tried to convince them multiple times that it has nothing to do with you.”

“What do they think I did?”

Poppy appeared cutting off their discussion, “Good morning!”

“That’s another thing, why is Poppy always with you at work?” Hiiro raised an eyebrow.

“I’m Emu’s assistant.”

“Not that I need an assistant,” Emu looked at his bugster friend, “but when she gave the idea to the director, of course he wouldn’t say no.”

“We all thought it would be a good idea,” Poppy informed.

“We?”

“Everyone else in CR,” Emu sighed. “Poppy is always with me at work, unless I’m visiting Kiriya, and Parad is always with me outside of the hospital unless I’m visiting Taiga and Nico.”

“That sounds a little controlling,” Hiiro admitted.

Poppy suddenly looked really sad, “Are we being controlling, Emu?”

Emu winced, “I know your hearts are all in the right place, so I wasn’t going to say anything.”

Poppy looked to be on the verge of tears. Emu got up and put a hand on her shoulder, “You aren’t trying to control my life, you all just wanted to help me out.”

Poppy nodded in understanding, “If you want more space you can have it.”

“I like having you as an assistant,” Emu smiled, “speaking of which, we need to get to work.”

Hiiro realized, “I clearly am missing something here.”

Emu looked a little worried for a moment before going back to his smile, “A lot can happen in two years.”

Hiiro was left, still answerless, as the other two left down the stairs.

A couple weeks went by when Kiriya showed up in CR. He looked around and noticed Hiiro, Taiga and Nico. “You’ll never guess who just died.”

Hiiro raised an eyebrow. Nico answered, “Well I assume you are going to tell us?”

“Yuuta.”

“No way!” Nico chuckled.

“Are you planning to tell Emu?” Taiga wondered.

Kiriya pulled up a chair, “I don’t know. I doubt he’d be as excited as we are.”

“Why are you happy someone died?” Hiiro looked up from the small cake he was eating.

“Has no one told you about Yuuta?”

Hiiro shook his head.

“Emu met this guy about four months after you left?” Nico rolled her eyes. “He was fine at first, then things went downhill fast.”

“We noticed Emu was being quieter than normal, then Parad found the bruises…” Taiga admitted. “We kept trying to help him, but he insisted everything was fine.”

“Parad and I finally convinced him he had to leave, but Yuuta didn’t like that of course. So he shot Emu,” Kiriya finished.

Hiiro was tightly clutching the knife in his hand as he kept listening.

“We’ve all pitched in trying to help him,” Nico added, “I think it’s brought everyone closer. It’s surprising how fun these nerds actually are.”

“Ironically, Yuuta died due to a gunshot wound,” Kiriya smirked.

They heard footsteps on the stairs before Poppy called, “Emu!”

She sighed as she finished making her way up the stairs, “He heard you talking.”

“I’ll go talk to him,” Hiiro decided before he headed out of CR.

“Hey,” Hiiro approached Emu who was sitting on the roof.

“Hey,” Emu glanced back.

“I heard what happened.”

“Did I hear them right? He died?”

“Yeah,” Hiiro sat down next to the other rider.

Emu nodded and looked out at the city. After a few minutes he spoke up, “Why are you out here?”

“I wanted to check on you.”

“I’m fine.”

“It sounds like something traumatic happened to you, it is alright to need time for it,” Hiiro said.

“I thought things would settle down after Chronicle,” Emu sighed. “First there was trying to just get through school, but then I joined CR. I thought it was nice that I had finally made friends, but Kuroto turned out to be Genm, Kiriya died, and everyone started attacking me for no reason. I know now that my game disease was the reason, but then finally everything settled down, Parad and Poppy were on our side, Kiriya was back, and we could just focus on bringing back those lost to the game.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “Then I met Yuuta, and I knew he wasn’t perfect, but he made me happy. After he became violent the others kept wanting me to leave him, but I thought I could help him. I just wanted this one thing to go right, but finally I realized that I can’t make everyone smile, and he was one of them. We were together almost a year. I then spent months in recovery after being shot. Honestly, if I took time to fully deal with everything traumatic that has happened to me, I’d be in therapy for eternity,” he chuckled before laying back and staring at the sky.

“You might not even want to hear this now, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you while I was gone,” Hiiro admitted. “If I had known you liked me sooner, I might not have left. But it was the day I was leaving, and I panicked. I wanted to kiss you again, or pull you onto the plane with me, or drop my plans, but I knew you needed to be here and that you’d want me to be there. I barely paid attention to Saki when she was right beside me, I can’t imagine how badly I would treat you if we were dating long distance. I knew there was a chance you’d move on, but I never imagined all of this would happen to you.”

“Just like I tell the others, it’s not your fault it happened to me. You said no, and I respected that. Don’t blame yourself because I went and got myself hurt.”

“I wanted to call or write, but I had no idea what to say. I started hundreds of letters but nothing sounded right,” Hiiro finally laid back as well, “Plus, I wanted to give you a chance to move on.”

“I did have feelings for Yuuta, but I never really quit liking you,” Emu admitted.

Before Hiiro could say anything Parad appeared, “Are you alright Emu? I just heard about Yuuta.”

Emu sat up and looked at the speaker who realized he was interrupting. “I’m fine. Just came to get some air.”

Parad nodded, “Let me know if you need anything.” He quickly disappeared.

Emu went to lean back on his arms but quickly winced and sat back up. Hiiro noticed and sat up, “Are you ok?”

Emu nodded as he stretched out his left arm, “Sometimes my arm is fine, other times I move or put pressure on it the wrong way and it flares up. The surgeon on duty didn’t have a lot of experience with gunshot wounds but he did the best he could. He kept me from dying at least.”

“If there’s an injured nerve I might be able to do something to fix it, but you’d have to go through physical therapy again.”

Emu stayed quiet, breathing in the fresh air.

“I really missed it up here. There’s a lot of great sights in America but looking out from up here is so nice,” Hiiro admitted.

Emu looked over at Hiiro and smiled, “There _are_ a lot of great sights up here.”

“Emu?” Poppy called, “You still have a few appointments to get to.”

“Right,” Emu stood up. “See you later, Hiiro.”

Hiiro stayed staring at the sky for a few more minutes before heading back into the hospital.

For a while, Hiiro talked to Emu during work, and kept showing to the weekly group dinners, but he gave Emu space, unsure if he would ever want a relationship after everything that happened.

“Hey, this Friday is Emu’s birthday – Parad,” Hiiro opened up a whole group message that started from Emu’s phone.

“I’ll have his phone a few more minutes. Do we want to go to dinner as usual or do something extra? – Parad”

“There’s a new arcade opening today we could check out,” Nico answered.

“Is it a surprise?” Poppy texted, “He’d get suspicious if we go anywhere other than our spot.”

“Start at dinner then decide where to go,” Kiriya smiled, “We can always head to the bar and get him trashed.” A winking face was placed at the end.

Taiga and Poppy sent eye-rolling emojis in response.

“Hiiro is on cake duty – Parad,” Hiiro rolled his eyes.

“Emu’s coming back. Bye – Parad.”

Hiiro showed up first that Friday with a large cake. Knowing the bakers at his favorite shop, he managed to pull a favor and get a cake shaped like Ex-Aid’s helmet.

“Parad was good to pick you for cake duty,” Poppy smiled when she lifted the lid of the box.

“Are you ready to party?” Kiriya, Taiga, and Nico showed up at the same time.

“We don’t even know if Emu will want to have a party,” Poppy reminded.

“He’s been working hard, he needs to unwind a bit,” Kiriya pulled out a bottle of alcohol he was hiding in his jacket.

“Do I now?” Emu raised an eyebrow as he and Parad entered.

He was quickly greeted with birthday wishes.

“Ok, we can go to the bar,” Emu agreed as they discussed plans, “But I’m not babysitting anyone who drinks too much.”

They headed to a bar a few blocks down the street.

“It’s tradition,” Kiriya pointed out, “You need to take one shot for every year you are old.”

“I’m not drinking that much,” Emu shook his head.

“I wonder if you being drunk will affect your gaming skills,” Parad looked thoughtful.

“Let’s do this!” Nico smiled and shoved a few shots toward Emu.

Emu wasn’t sure how but he was already 20 shots in by the time they finished playing all of the games in the bar.

Hiiro approached Emu from behind and put a hand on his shoulder.

Emu flinched and quickly turned around. Hiiro caught him when he began to stumble.

“Oh it’s you, Hiiro,” Emu slowed his breathing. “I try not to be so jumpy but sometimes I panic when someone grabs me.” Hiiro looked sad wondering what other things Emu’s ex caused. Emu continued to ramble, “I’m fine though. I’ve been a lot better knowing Yuuta can’t come after me anymore,” he gave a big smile like what he said was no big deal. “Oh,” he remembered, “You came up to me. What’s up?”

Hiiro shook his head, “I thought you weren’t going to drink that much.”

Emu shrugged, “I guess it doesn’t hurt occasionally.” Emu started giggling.

Hiiro raised an eyebrow, “What’s so funny?”

“I don’t know,” Emu admitted as he kept laughing.

“I think it’s getting late, you probably should get home before you hurt yourself,” Hiiro smirked.

“Yea,” Emu agreed. He quit talking for a few moments before he turned around and threw up in the trash can.

Hiiro grabbed a few napkins and handed them to Emu after he straightened up.

Emu blinked sleepily, “I don’t feel so good.”

Hiiro shook his head and led him back to the table, “Party is over guys.”

The group slowly dispersed leaving Parad, Hiiro, and Emu.

“I better get him home,” Parad helped Emu stand.

“I can get home fine,” Emu argued.

“Do you know the signs to watch for alcohol poisoning or how to deal with him if he wakes up hungover?” Hiiro looked at Parad.

Parad shook his head.

“Oh I do!” Emu said excitedly before a wave of nausea hit him again.

“Maybe you should come keep an eye on him,” Parad decided.

“Like a sleepover! We can stay up playing video games!” Emu smiled.

Hiiro rolled his eyes, “I guess.”

Emu stumbled out of the bar, tripping on the sidewalk.

Hiiro and Parad pulled him up just before he bent over and threw up in the road. Hiiro rubbed Emu’s back for a minute before asking, “Are you good to keep going?” Once he saw that Emu nodded, he added, “You might want to hold on to one of us so you don’t fall over.”

Emu grabbed Hiiro’s hand, “I’m a disaster.”

“Only a little bit,” Hiiro chuckled, “but everyone has had a night or two like this.”

“Even the great and serious Dr. Kagami?” Emu looked up at Hiiro’s face.

“Even me,” Hiiro admitted.

Parad led the way to Emu’s house which, luckily, wasn’t far. He ended up unlocking the door then leaving saying something about an arcade. Emu ended up being too tired for games so Hiiro helped him into the bed. He fell asleep quickly and Hiiro sat on the edge of the bed a few hours making sure Emu wasn’t going to get sick again.

Hiiro headed out to the living room and slept on the couch. He awoke to hearing Emu call, “Parad?”

Emu was facing the back of the couch. Hiiro sat up quickly and faced the noise. His eyes landed on Emu who was only in boxers, drying his hair in a towel. He froze taking in the sight for a few seconds before Emu snapped him out of it, “Hiiro?”

Hiiro quickly looked away, slightly blushing.

“Why are you in my apartment?” Emu asked.

“You started throwing up, Parad said I should take care of you, then you decided you wanted a sleepover.”

“I remember going to the bar, and then playing some games,” Emu thought, “but that’s about it.”

“Well, now that I know you aren’t going to die of alcohol poisoning or choking on vomit, I should probably get going,” Hiiro stood up quickly.

“Are you hungry?” Emu asked. After Hiiro glanced at him in confusion Emu offered, “I could at least make you breakfast as a thank you for helping me.”

“Uh, sure,” Hiiro answered awkwardly.

Emu nodded and headed back to his bedroom to get dressed.

He came out and quickly took a few pills to help his headache before he started cooking.

“Do you need help?” Hiiro offered.

Emu shook his head, “I’ve got it. So I invited you for a sleepover?”

“You wanted to stay up playing games,” Hiiro chuckled, “You ended up being too tired that you fell asleep. I stayed up to make sure you wouldn’t be sick again, then I crashed on the couch.”

“Well we can play games today if you want,” Emu suggested. He flipped the omelette he was making, “Or we could watch a movie, I know you aren’t big on gaming. If you even want to stay longer…”

Hiiro glanced at his watch, “I might have a couple hours.”

Emu smiled as he plated up the food.

“What do you even do on your days off?” Emu wondered, “You always seem ready for surgery.”

“A doctor should always be prepared,” Hiiro answered with a straight face. He then added, “laundry, cleaning, or reading about new medicines and techniques.”

Emu turned on a movie and they sat on the couch eating their breakfast. He yawned after he collected up their plates.

“You should probably get some more rest,” Hiiro noticed the sleepy look in his friend’s eyes.

“I’m fine.”

An hour later Hiiro whispered, “Emu? The movie is over.”

Emu groaned at the sound, having fallen asleep a while ago.

“Emu?”

Emu finally opened his eyes. He looked up and noticed his head was resting in Hiiro’s lap. He sat up blushing, “Sorry.”

“I told you, you needed more rest,” Hiiro gave Emu a small smile.

Emu caught Hiiro’s gaze and stared into his eyes for a few seconds before he moved closer and brought his lips to Hiiro’s. They felt electricity pass between them as Hiiro moved forward and deepened the kiss.

Emu sat up and pushed Hiiro back slightly before kissing a trail down Hiiro’s neck.

“Emu,” Hiiro breathed out as his heart rate quickened.

Emu pulled away, “Should I stop?”

“No,” Hiiro pulled him in to a rushed kiss.

Emu and Hiiro were eating lunch in CR on Monday while sitting and chatting with Parad, Kiriya, and Poppy.

The director came in, “Hiiro, the nurses are all going crazy talking about you having a girlfriend.”

Hiiro raised an eyebrow, “A girlfriend?”

“Oh yeah, they said they saw the hickey on your neck,” Poppy remembered.

“It’s a bruise,” Hiiro said plainly as he cut another piece of cake.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” the director smiled, “I had plenty of hickeys in my time.”

Hiiro glanced at his dad with a slightly disgusted look on his face, “I don’t really need to know that.”

“So this girlfriend, it’s not Poppy is it?” The Director smiled at his favorite bugster.

“What?” Hiiro choked out, “No.”

Parad looked at Emu before smirking in understanding.

“What about Nico?” Poppy suggested.

Nico, who was coming up the stairs with Taiga, asked, “What about me?”

“She’s too young,” Hiiro rolled his eyes. “Why do you all care anyway?”

The director smiled, “I know you’ll introduce me when you are ready, but until then I really just need to find a way to get the nurses to focus on work.”

“I’ll take care of them,” Poppy quickly changed her outfit and followed the director out of CR.

Kiriya quickly updated Nico and Taiga on the conversation.

“A girlfriend?” Taiga feigned interest.

“Who’d want to date him?” Nico answered.

Taiga gave her a small punch in the arm before pointing at Emu who was playing a game on his phone.

“You’ve been pretty quiet this whole time, Emu,” Kiriya voiced to the doctor who looked up in confusion.

“Huh?”

“Have you really not been listening?” Nico asked.

“You know how focused he gets on games,” Parad looked up from his own portable game system.

“What’s up?” Emu looked around.

“The nurses have all been trying to win over Hiiro, but it seems a new player has swooped in and won the prize,” Kiriya informed, trying to get Emu to admit it was him.

Hiiro had been trying to ignore them for a while but finally looked back up from his cake, “I’m not a prize to be won and dating isn’t a game.”

“Life is like an RPG, every choice you make leads to different paths,” Parad assessed, “So everything is a game.”

“Parad has a point,” Emu shrugged at Hiiro who rolled his eyes.

“So who do you think won Hiiro’s heart?” Nico prodded.

Emu shrugged and looked down at his lunch, “If Hiiro wants to keep his dating life private, that’s up to him. We are very open here, but this is a professional setting after all.”

Kiriya, Taiga, and Nico glanced at each other and sighed, knowing the conversation was over for now.

Emu stood around the corner, listening to a few nurses talking. He normally wouldn’t listen in to conversations but he heard them whisper his name and saw them staring at him.

“Dr. Emu is good with the kids, but I can’t see him dating anyone. Especially Dr. Kagami,” one woman said.

“It’s obviously just a rumor that they are together. Dr. Kagami is probably dating a woman who doesn’t work here. He’s too professional to date someone he works with,” a second woman stated.

“I always thought Emu had a thing with that nurse, Asuna,” a third woman said.

“They are both weird enough to be together,” the first added.

“Plus, Dr. Kagami dated a woman before, why would he suddenly switch to men?” The third questioned.

“I don’t think Dr. Hojo is with Asuna,” the second woman mentioned, “He seems too into his video games to focus on a real person.”

Emu walked away thinking about what they said. He met up with Poppy for a few of his appointments and afterward they were walking back to CR.

“Everyone is saying you’re the one dating Hiiro,” Poppy informed.

“I know, I’ve heard,” he sighed.

“Is it true?” she turned to him, “I know you’ve liked him for a while.”

“I don’t know what we are really, if we are a couple or whatever, but we did spend most of the weekend together…” Emu admitted. “I don’t know who’s been telling everyone we are dating though.”

“Hey,” a nurse quickly approached the pair. “I heard you are the one who stole Dr. Kagami from me,” she quickly punched Emu in the face making him fall back, “You better stay away from him!”

Security guards grabbed her before she could do any more damage.

Poppy helped Emu stand up, “Let’s get you cleaned up, you’re bleeding.” She handed him a tissue.

They headed to CR where Hiiro was looking through some files and Kiriya was lounging on the couch.

“What happened?” Hiiro asked quickly when Emu entered.

“Your fan girls happened,” Emu snapped. Poppy forced him into a chair before handing him a box of tissues.

“Fan girls?”

“Someone told people that we are dating and then someone punched me saying that I stole you from her.”

“Is it true then?” Kiriya sat up.

“What?” Emu glanced back.

“That you two are together.”

“Why does that matter? Someone just hit him,” Hiiro spat.

“Well I didn’t think the rumor would cause any violence. I just wanted to see what drama ensued,” Kiriya smirked.

“Why would you do that?” Poppy asked.

“It’s been a little boring around here, don’t you think?” Kiriya admitted. “I had no bad intentions.”

“Go back to your office,” Emu ordered, “I don’t want to deal with you right now.”

Kiriya shrugged before disappearing.

Hiiro walked over to Emu, “Are you alright?”

“I think the bleeding stopped but my nose hurts and my lip is starting to swell.”

Hiiro handed him a couple pills, “Take these anti-inflammatories. They should help the swelling.”

“I can’t believe someone would hit you over a guy,” Poppy shook her head.

“I’m surprised anyone believed we were together, because from all the muttering and whispers I’ve heard today, no one else does.”

“People have been talking about us?” Hiiro sat down facing Emu, “I thought they got that out of their system yesterday.”

“Well, you’re too professional to date anyone you work with, though somehow having a visible hickey on your neck doesn’t stop you being professional?” Emu complained. “Oh and I’m too in love with video games to love a real person, or people think I’m dating Poppy.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Hiiro responded.

“Plus, you dated a female before so no one wants to believe you’d be interested in guys.”

“I haven’t heard anyone talking about this, except the one who hit you,” Poppy analyzed.

“Yeah, I haven’t either,” Hiiro thought.

“They probably know you two would chew them out or tell the director,” Emu realized. “I’ve heard whispers all day, and been getting stared at by both nurses and doctors.”

“This isn’t a high school, it’s a hospital. We are here to save lives, not gossip,” Hiiro growled.

“I know,” Emu responded. He slowly stood up, “I’ve gotten done with everything, I think I’m going to head out early.”

“I was asked to watch over a few surgeries later to critique the newbies so I’ll be here a while longer,” Hiiro informed. “Have a good night Emu.”

Emu smiled at Hiiro and then at Poppy, “Have a good night.”

The next morning Emu was intercepted by one of the pediatric nurses before he even got to his desk, “Some flowers were delivered for you. I put them on your desk.”

“Flowers?” Emu walked to his desk and noticed a bouquet of roses and an envelope attached to it. He opened the envelope and found a short note, “If people are going to be talking about us anyway, I don’t see a point in hiding how I feel about you. Hope you enjoy – Hiiro.”

Emu took in the smell of the flowers before he pushed them to the corner of his desk and started going through his schedule for the day. Poppy soon appeared and they headed to see some of their patients.

“We have a meeting in CR then we can take lunch, unless something comes up,” Poppy said around noon.

“Oh I forgot about the meeting,” Emu admitted.

“That’s what I’m here for!” Poppy smiled. In the elevator to CR she quickly changed her outfit into her brightly colored dress.

The group was sitting around the table silently, except Nico and Parad who were discussing a game release.

“We’re just expecting the director and then we’ll have two people on video call,” Poppy informed the group.

“I haven’t heard anyone talking today,” Kiriya looked at Emu who was sitting down.

“You’ve probably only been around dead bodies all day,” Taiga reminded.

The director walked up the stairs and greeted Poppy before walking up to Hiiro, “I heard people talking yesterday. Why didn’t you just tell me Emu was your girlfriend?”

Nico and Kiriya burst out in laughter.

“Wouldn’t Emu be a boyfriend?” Poppy questioned Director Kagami.

“Oh, right,” he smiled at Poppy before looking back at Hiiro.

“Sir?” Emu interrupted, “It’s time for the meeting.”

The director nodded and sat down quickly by Poppy as Emu pulled up the video feeds. After the meeting almost everyone scattered, going on with their days.

Parad, Poppy, Emu, and Hiiro were left sitting around the table.

“Hiiro?” Emu grabbed the doctor’s attention away from the cake he just opened. “Thank you for the flowers.”

Hiiro gave a small smile, “I wasn’t sure if you’d like them.”

“They’re great.”

“Your face didn’t bruise much,” Hiiro analyzed, remembering the punch Emu received the day before.

“Oh, security informed me that she’s been given a week off as punishment,” Poppy remembered.

“You really can’t go anywhere without getting into trouble, can you?” Parad smirked.

“You know better than anyone I’m a magnet for trouble,” Emu laughed.

“Well if anyone else bothers you, let me know,” Hiiro ordered, “I’ll be sure to take care of them myself.”

Emu raised an eyebrow before smiling.

Hiiro exited CR and was caught by Taiga. “Let’s talk.”

Hiiro raised an eyebrow but followed Taiga to the roof.

“He might be annoying sometimes, but we’ve all come to protect Emu,” Taiga admitted, “They’ve started rescuing people from the protogashats. I don’t care who you pick, but if you stick with Emu, you’ll have to let Saki down if we bring her back. If you are serious about Saki, don’t toy around with Emu. If you hurt him, you’ll have all of us to face.”

Hiiro was about to speak but Taiga cut him off, “Just choose wisely. Saki would understand that it’s been years and you’ve moved on. And Emu would understand if you want to wait for her. Just don’t drag him along until she comes back, because that’s heartless.” Hiiro watched the other rider walk back into the hospital.

A few months go by with Hiiro and Emu dating more.

“Just give him the rest of his vaccines. That’s all we are here for,” a mother told Emu.

“He’s not crying. I’ve never seen a baby stay still and silent through a vaccine. There is something wrong. I’d just like to get a quick sample of blood to test,” Emu informed as he grabbed out a vial.

The mother grabbed Emu’s arm, “There’s no need for that. He’s a perfectly healthy baby.”

“Don’t you want to double check that?” Emu offered.

“I’m his mother, I know more about him than you do,” she responded still grasping Emu’s wrist.

Emu sat the vial down with his other hand, “Fine. Let me give him the other two shots and you can go.”

She finally released Emu’s arm and he steadily injected the shots. “There you go.”

“You should have more respect for your patients,” she said as she picked up her son.

“My patients are the children, not the parents,” Emu said, “I just want to make sure they are as healthy as they can be. I thought as his mother you’d appreciate that.”

“There’s nothing to appreciate here. All you’ve done is give me attitude,” after she finished putting the baby in his carrier, she turned back to Emu, “I best not be hearing any more of this talk of him being unhealthy. You obviously don’t know what you are talking about.”

Emu, who was normally calm when dealing with patients, was at the end of his patience. “Are you a trained doctor?”

“No,” she shook her head.

“Then how do you know he’s fine?”

“You only see him for a few minutes at a time. I see him 24/7, I know he’s healthy.”

Emu shook his head and dropped the conversation. As he went to write in the file she grabbed his arm again, “I best not be getting officials called to my house because of you. I’ll make sure you are fired for accusations like that.”

“I wasn’t going to, but now that you mention it…” Emu met her eyes.

He received a quick slap, “I will ruin your life if you try to ruin mine.” She picked up the carrier and left the room.

When Poppy entered the room she found Emu breathing heavily with his head down.

“Emu?”

He looked up and apologized, “Sorry, I’m running late again aren’t I?”

“What happened?” she noticed the red mark on his face.

He shook his head and wiped the few stray tears off his face. She noticed the bruising on his wrist when be brought his hand up to his face.

“Emu, what happened?” She repeated. After he told her about the patient she said, “You have to report her. There’s something sketchy going on. Plus, you could press charges, she obviously hurt you.”

Emu nodded and followed her down to the director’s office.

Hiiro looked down at his phone which was ringing. He answered it and headed off to pediatrics. A couple hours later Emu approached Hiiro.

“What happened?” Hiiro worried.

“I’ll explain it all later,” he sighed. “The next doctor on duty as well as a few nurses are out because it’s flu season so I’ll be here all night. Thanks for checking on the rest of the patients for me.”

Hiiro nodded, “I didn’t have anything scheduled anyway. Though the kids definitely like you better.”

Emu smirked, “Only because I let them play video games.”

“There’s a stack of papers on your desk to be filed but that’s the only thing I didn’t get to,” Hiiro glanced at the time, “I have a couple patients of my own to check. Have fun.”

Emu smiled as he watched his boyfriend walk away. He sat at his desk and started alphabetizing the papers by patient name. Poppy appeared a while later and found Emu with his head on his desk fast asleep.

Hiiro came back a few hours later and found Emu talking to the two nurses who were sitting by him.

“The next nurses don’t arrive until 6, but it is night time so most of our patients are sleeping. Asuna and I can take care of them so you can go get some rest,” Emu informed. The nurses stood and headed off to sign out.

“You need a break,” Hiiro spoke.

Emu shook his head, “I’ve fallen asleep a couple times now, I’ve gotten enough of a break.”

“Have you eaten?”

Emu thought for a moment before shaking his head.

“Well then you need to eat. I got us some food, we can head up to the roof,” Hiiro decided, “Poppy’s here taking care of everything.”

Emu gave in, realizing his stomach would be thankful for the food. They got up to the roof and Emu noticed a little blanket set out with a box on top.

“It’s so nice out here,” Emu listened to the silent city while looking up to the stars.

“I ordered us a pizza,” Hiiro opened the box, “I know you’ll be here until morning.”

“Thanks for staying late to help me.”

“You can’t care for your patients if you aren’t taken care of yourself.”

Emu smiled as he looked over at Hiiro who was enjoying a bite of pizza.

Hiiro looked over and noticed Emu’s expression, “what?”

“You’re really amazing.”

Hiiro blushed a little before replying, “You are too.”

Emu glanced at his phone which started ringing. After answering it he told Hiiro, “I have a patient coming in from the ER. I have to get down there.” He gave Hiiro a quick kiss before grabbing another slice of pizza and eating it as he walked back to the elevator.

When Hiiro arrived the next day he flipped the lights on in CR and found Emu asleep on the couch next to a baby crib.

Emu started to stir, the brightness bringing him out of his slumber. He sat up quickly and checked on the baby before noticing Hiiro standing by the table.

“Morning,” Emu yawned.

“Why is there a baby in CR?”

“Oh he’s one of my patients.”

“Why isn’t he in pediatrics then?”

“Everyone knows he’s with me,” Emu answered, “I needed to rest but he needs someone keeping a close eye on him.”

“Why isn’t he with his parents?”

Emu told Hiiro about the patient from yesterday and the mom that threatened him, “They took him away from his mother for testing so he got checked into the ER. After a blood test they found out she’s been drugging him to keep him from crying. I’m waiting to see how he acts once the drugs are out of his system.”

“She threatened you? And drugged her child?” Hiiro looked disgusted.

Emu pulled up his sleeve and showed the darkened bruising on his wrist. “They are doing an investigation for now, so he might end up back with his mother, but until then he’s a ward of pediatrics.”

“You still haven’t gone home?”

Emu shook his head, “I did shower and change at some point this morning after I got thrown up on… but I’ve at least slept a bit. I’m not on the clock anymore, I just didn’t want to leave him,” Emu stared into the crib at the sleeping baby.

Parad appeared and glanced at the baby, “This thing is why you never came home?”

“It’s not a thing, he’s a person,” Emu answered.

Poppy jumped out of her game, “He’s just a little person,” she smiled.

“I have surgery to get to,” Hiiro glanced at the time.

“I’m off today but I’ll be around watching Ren,” Emu responded.

“Ren?” Hiiro raised an eyebrow.

“It’s the baby’s name,” Poppy smiled.

Every time Hiiro came back to CR the rest of the day, there was someone new playing with the baby. First Kiriya was making faces at Ren making him laugh. Then Poppy was talking to him. After that, Nico was feeding him. Finally, at the end of the day it was just Emu and Parad talking while Emu was holding Ren.

“So what if his mom isn’t allowed to take him?” Parad wondered.

“He’ll probably go up for adoption.”

“How do you know the new parents will take care of him?”

Emu hugged the baby closer before admitting, “We can only hope.”

Parad stared at Emu for a moment before asking, “You want to keep him, don’t you?”

Emu sighed, “That’s too big of a decision. Some days I work long hours, I travel a lot when I do gaming competitions, realistically I don’t think I could handle being a parent.”

“I could watch him while you are at work.”

“There’s more to think about than just who will watch him while I’m at work,” Emu glanced over at Hiiro who was organizing some papers. “It doesn’t matter right now anyway. We are just trying to make sure he’s healthy until they make a decision.”

“Are you staying here again?”

Emu shook his head, “No, I need to get a good night’s sleep so I can work tomorrow. I’ll be heading home soon.”

Parad nodded, “I’m going to the game store.”

“Do you still have money?”

“I have your credit card,” Parad smirked.

Emu chuckled, “Don’t spend too much. Oh, and price the new controllers. I have at least one that needs replacing.”

Parad waved before disappearing.

Hiiro looked up eventually noticing the silence. “It seems everyone here likes Ren.”

“I think he even got Taiga to smile.”

Hiiro approached, “May I?”

Emu looked surprised but handed over the baby who instantly smiled at Hiiro. Hiiro’s face softened into a smile, his eyes shining at Ren. He gently swayed as the baby yawned and nestled into Hiiro’s chest.

Emu grinned before wondering, “Do you ever want to have kids?”

Hiiro thought for a minute before answering, “My biggest goal was to become a surgeon. The thought of kids crossed my mind when I was dating Saki, but I never thought far into it. You?”

“I’d always thought it would be fun, but I knew if I settled down it would be with a guy, so I’d never be able to have my own. Adoption is an option, but some agencies have issues with same sex parents adopting so it would be difficult. At least I get to work with kids all the time at the hospital.”

Hiiro nodded in understanding. “I think you’d be a good parent. The kids love you, and you’ve taken great care of Ren the past few days.”

Emu stood and packed his bag, “I better get him back to his room.”

Hiiro went to hand Emu the baby, but as soon as Ren was away from Hiiro he started crying.

“Looks like he really likes you,” Emu sighed as he rocked Ren to calm him. When he finally stopped, Emu headed back to pediatrics and left Ren in his crib.

A few days later a man came in and handed Emu a pile of papers, “Ren will be taken to one of his grandparents. His mother will be taking parenting classes, and his father is deceased. I’m here to get him released.”

Emu scanned through the paperwork which included Ren’s birth certificate. Emu froze when he looked further into it. He quickly composed himself before he signed the release paper, “Take this to one of the nurses and they’ll get you any of his medical papers that you need and then you’re free to go.”

Parad found Emu in one of the hospital restrooms.

“The door was locked for a reason,” Emu wiped his eyes.

“I could feel something was wrong,” Parad admitted, “What happened?”

“I don’t know what I’m more upset about. I knew the chance was low, but I was really kind of hoping I’d have a chance to adopt Ren. I’m glad he’ll be with family though,” Emu nodded slowly.

“So what’s the other problem?”

“I found out Yuuta was Ren’s father.”

“He had a kid?”

“And what’s worse is based on Ren’s age, he was conceived while I was still dating him,” Emu sobbed. “I thought Ren’s eyes looked familiar, but they were filled with so much light that Yuuta didn’t have.”

“Come on,” Parad pulled Emu up, “You know Yuuta treated you like crap, is it that much of a surprise to find out he cheated?” After Emu didn’t answer, Parad wiped the tears from Emu’s face, “There’s at least another doctor on duty, right? Why don’t you head home early and we can play some games to get your mind off of it?”

“I can’t leave all the work for someone else.”

“What is it that Hiiro says? You can’t take care of others if you can’t take care of yourself?”

Emu coughed, “I guess.”

The next morning when Emu and Parad showed up to CR, the rest of the group was already there.

“Are you alright? You two disappeared yesterday,” Poppy asked worried.

“I’m fine,” Emu answered.

“He’s probably just upset that the baby is gone,” Nico assessed.

“He was a nice baby,” Kiriya noted.

Emu pulled off his jacket so he could put on his doctor coat.

“She really bruised you good, didn’t she?” Kiriya noticed the bruise still wrapped around Emu’s wrist, “You know Ren’s mom and Yuuta would have been great together, both abusive pieces of crap.”

Emu froze while staring at the table.

“Emu, snap out of it,” Parad tried but after getting no response he disappeared into Emu’s body.

The group watched as Emu’s eyes glowed red. Parad took a few seconds before admitting, “He insisted on coming in to work even though I told him he shouldn’t.” He updated the group on the news about Ren’s father.

“If he wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him,” Kiriya spoke.

“Poor Emu,” Poppy said sadly.

“Sounds like he needs a therapist again,” Nico sighed.

“He’s going to be mad at me, but I’m making him go home,” Parad decided.

Hiiro spoke up, “I’ll stop by after work.”

Parad nodded and left, leading Emu’s body home.

After letting Hiiro in, Parad informed, “I thought I’d give him more time.” He exited Emu’s body before sitting back down on the couch to continue his game. Hiiro stopped Emu from falling.

Emu blinked his eyes open, finally focusing on Hiiro’s face. “What happened?”

“We made you take a day off.”

Emu glanced over at Parad before asking Hiiro, “What time is it?”

“It’s six.”

Emu nodded and sat down on the couch. He was quiet for a few seconds before realizing, “I’m hungry.”

“I knew I was forgetting something,” Parad remembered.

Emu rolled his eyes, “It’s a wonder I never starved to death.”

“We can go get some dinner if you want?” Hiiro suggested.

“Sure,” Emu smiled before standing up. He looked down at his outfit and shrugged before throwing on his jacket.

Hiiro grabbed Emu’s hand as they walked down the sidewalk, “Do you feel weird when Parad controls you?”

“Normally it’s just like I’m asleep,” Emu admitted. “He rarely does it anymore. He has permission to if I start stressing out too much though.”

“How are you feeling?”

Emu sighed, “I’m doing ok. I got attached to Ren more than most of my patients but I’m always a little sad to see them go. It’s good though that they are healthy enough to go live their lives. Obviously, I knew Yuuta wasn’t a good person, but I thought he at least cared for me in his own odd way. Now I’m not even sure about that.” He was quiet for a minute before adding, “It’s fine, I have you now.”

“It’s understandable though, when you give that much of yourself to another person, even if you’ve moved on, the pain and memories are always still there.”

“It’s just another thing to move past. I just need to focus on right now: I have a good job, I have friends that care about me, and I have a super cute boyfriend,” Emu smiled as he nudged Hiiro.

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“You’ve got flowers on your desk again,” one of the nurses informed. He headed to his desk and set his bag down before smelling the bouquet of pink and blue carnations. He noticed a note tied to it:

Happy birthday

It’s been a year since you drunkenly invited me over for the sleepover that kick started our relationship. A lot has happened since then but every day has made me fall harder for you. After our usual group dinner tonight, I have plans for us the rest of the weekend so don’t plan anything else.

I love you,

Hiiro

Emu smiled before slipping the note in his pocket and getting on with his work.

He arrived at the restaurant to find the group already there. After the birthday greetings he sat down between Hiiro and Parad.

“So are we hitting the bar later?” Taiga chuckled.

“Emu didn’t even get through all of his birthday shots last year, he has to this year,” Kiriya reminded.

“I didn’t mean to get that drunk,” Emu laughed, “I’m not making myself sick again.”

“We could head somewhere else?” Poppy suggested. “There’s a carnival in town.”

“We could take them to our place,” Parad spoke quietly.

“Our place isn’t big enough,” Emu answered before realizing, “Oh M’s place? I guess we could spill that secret early.”

The group looked at them in confusion but they just laughed to themselves and ignored them. After dinner Emu led them to a building with no signs outside and newspapers covering the windows. Parad pulled out a key and unlocked the door. They piled in before Emu turned on the light. Shelves lined the walls with some games and movies sitting on them. Near the back there were a few large screens hooked up to game systems.

“We are still trying to finalize the name and finish stocking everything, but we are opening our own game store,” Emu announced. “Though I’m technically owner, Parad will be the one here daily running things.”

“It’s so exciting, I’ll get to talk to people about games all the time,” Parad smiled, “And we are going to hold competitions.”

“I’ll be winning them all,” Nico said confidently.

“We might hire a couple workers if we get enough business,” Emu mentioned.

“I finished upstairs while you were out,” Parad remembered. Emu’s eye’s grew wide as he smiled and headed to the back of the store.

“Customers will just stay downstairs, but upstairs is our own gaming area,” Emu informed.

The group followed them up the stairs.

“Wow,” Poppy said with amazement. The room was painted in orange and blue with a blue couch and orange carpeting. There was a huge television and multiple systems hooked up. A few lamps lined the room as well as some party lights dangling from the ceiling.

“It’s perfect,” Emu smiled as he high-fived Parad.

“What are those rooms?” Nico pointed to the two doors.

“That’s the bathroom,” Parad pointed to one, “The other is my room.”

“Your room?” Kiriya wondered.

“I’ve just been staying at Emu’s house and finally thought he might want his apartment to himself.”

“Not that I have a problem with him being there obviously, but we thought we’d give this a try for a while,” Emu finished.

“It’s nice,” Hiiro smiled.

“Taiga, we need a game room like this,” Nico insisted to the man who rolled his eyes.

They headed back down the stairs and Emu looked at the pile of packages on the counter. He started opening them up, “We plan to open in the next month.”

“You should have an opening party,” Poppy said excitedly.

“There has been a decline in game stores lately,” Nico noticed, “Plus if people know it’s owned by M I’m sure that will bring in some extra business too.”

“You could sell autographs,” Kiriya smirked.

Emu rolled his eyes as he stacked the new stock higher and higher onto the counter. He finally got to one box before he handed it to Parad, “If we aren’t living together I thought you might need a phone. That way you can also call me if there’s an emergency at the store.”

Parad smiled, “I’ve read about this model, it has great graphics for gaming.”

Emu smiled around at his friends, “I guess that’s it for now, nothing too exciting until we fully open.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to head out for drinks?” Kiriya brought up again.

Emu shook his head, “Is it just your goal in life to get me trashed?”

“It might be,” Kiriya clapped Emu on the shoulder.

“Don’t forget we have plans this weekend,” Hiiro reminded.

“What are you guys doing?” Poppy asked.

“I don’t know,” Emu admitted.

“It’s a surprise.”

“Well, I better go get some sleep then,” Emu decided. “I’ll see you guys later.”

“Good night,” Parad smiled locking the door behind the group.

Emu woke to a knock on the door.

“Good morning,” Hiiro smiled.

“What is the plan?”

“Grab a change of clothes.”

“Ok?” Emu changed into his clothes for the day and picked out another outfit. “Ready I guess.”

Emu stared out the window as Hiiro drove them an hour to their location. Finally, his eyes spotted a cabin.

“We’re here.”

“This looks nice,” Emu smiled.

“Our family owns it,” Hiiro admitted. “We used to come out here a lot but once I started Med school I was too busy.”

Hiiro unlocked the door revealing a large open kitchen and living room. He took their bags and headed to the back, walking into one of the rooms which had a large bed in it.

Emu glanced around and noticed an enclosed porch with a large hot tub.

“What do you think?”

“It’s great,” Emu smiled.

Hiiro grabbed Emu’s hand, “I thought it would be nice for us to get away from our responsibilities for a couple days, just relaxing here.”

Emu grinned, “Thank you.”

Emu found the fridge was already stocked when Hiiro went to cook them dinner. Emu enjoyed the quietness, just cuddling with his boyfriend most of the weekend.

“We should come here again soon,” Hiiro mentioned as he threw their bags into the trunk.

“It was really nice,” Emu smiled as he climbed in the car, “thank you again.”

“Of course,” Hiiro kissed the top of Emu’s forehead before buckling up.

Emu slowly drifted to sleep as Hiiro drove them back to the city. A few miles out though, Hiiro heard a honking noise before his mind faded to black.

“Hiiro? Hiiro??”

His head swam as his eyes tried to focus, “Emu?”

They finally focused on the figure to his left, before he looked to his right in panic. Emu was unconscious next to him, blood dripping from multiple places.

“I called an ambulance already,” Parad informed, trying to not have his worry show. Hiiro wasn’t even going to question why the bugster had appeared, so he undid his belt and slowly stepped out of the car. He leaned against it, trying to figure out what happened. A man rushed forward, “That truck ran the red light.” Hiiro looked at the damage, the car having spun a bit, and the truck, with a man leaning forward on the steering wheel.

He panicked as he remembered Emu in the car. He looked around and noticed there was no easy way to get him out. He went and got back in the driver’s side, and checked Emu’s pulse. He saw a lot of cuts from broken window shards and noticed how caved in the door was. He was sure Emu had at least a few broken bones.

“The ambulance is here,” Parad pulled Hiiro’s attention away.

Hiiro nodded and stepped back out of the car. He was pulled away by some medics while they worked on getting Emu’s door open. He watched as Emu’s limp body was laid on a stretcher. The ambulance ride went quick with Hiiro staring at Emu and fighting off his own dizziness.

“Hiiro!” Director Kagami rushed into one of the ER rooms.

Hiiro looked up at the noise then back down at the nurse who was cleaning his wounds.

“Are you alright?”

Hiiro shrugged, “I’m worried about Emu.”

“I know,” his dad sat next to him, “he’s in good hands. They did x-rays now they are rushing him into surgery.”

“I should be there,” Hiiro said quietly.

“You can watch when you are patched up, but you can’t perform surgery right now.”

“I’m the best surgeon the hospital has.”

“Your hands are shaking. You just were in an accident; you need to rest.”

Hiiro met his dad’s eyes and nodded, knowing there was no point in arguing.

When the nurse was done, the director hugged his son, “Your friends have all gathered in the waiting room watching Emu.”

“I just need a minute,” Hiiro admitted before heading up to the roof. “I don’t know what’s worse,” he whispered to himself as he looked out at the sunset, “having the one you love disappear before your eyes, or seeing them bloody and broken.” He sighed as he stuck his shaking hands in his pocket, “At least he still has a chance.” He turned to go to the elevator.

“He’s stable,” Parad informed as Hiiro walked into the waiting room.

“How are you feeling?” Poppy worried.

Hiiro stayed silent while looking through the window.

“He’s going to be fine,” Taiga tried to be supportive.

“He’s in way better shape than the driver of the other car,” Kiriya tried to lighten the mood.

Nico punched Kiriya’s arm, “Only cause the driver died.”

“At least the guy’s baby came out unharmed.”

“There was a baby?” Hiiro turned to face the speaker.

“Yea, didn’t you hear it crying?” Parad wondered.

Hiiro shook his head.

“You might have been in a bit of shock,” Poppy assessed.

“Plus you did hit your head.”

Hiiro frowned but went back to looking through the window.

It was quiet for a while; Nico was nodding off making Taiga wonder if they should leave. Kiriya was playing on his phone while the other three stayed standing.

Hiiro didn’t turn his head but talked quietly so Parad could hear, “He said yes.”

“I knew he would.”

“Said yes to what?” Poppy asked from the other side of Hiiro.

Hiiro stayed quiet so Parad spoke up, “He proposed to Emu this weekend.”

“What?” Kiriya overheard. His outburst made Nico jump awake.

Before anyone could answer, Director Kagami entered the waiting room. “I brought some food for everyone, and I got you a change of clothes,” he looked to Hiiro.

Hiiro looked down and realized his clothes were splattered with blood and dirt. He took the clothes and headed to take a shower. The water stung the scrapes on his body as it washed the blood away. He finally let the tears flow free, crying for the deceased driver, crying for the baby that lost a parent, and crying for worry over Emu. Emu had been through a lot, he didn’t deserve more pain. Hiiro wished he could take all of the injuries himself and instantly heal Emu, but he knew that was impossible. He thought back to watching Saki die, hoping he didn’t have to relive that with his new love.

Finally, he focused enough to get out of the shower and dressed before heading back to the waiting room.

“They’ve done what they can, now they just have to see how he reacts to treatment and wait for him to wake up,” Poppy informed. Everyone had left the room except Parad and Poppy.

“We’ll be in CR. Let us know if anything changes,” Parad ordered. Hiiro nodded and went to find Emu’s room. He sat on the small couch and eventually fell asleep.

“Hiiro?” He woke up to find his dad there, holding a baby.

“Hmm?” Hiiro stretched out before standing.

“How are you feeling?”

He took a moment to check the beeping screens that Emu was hooked to before answering, “Just tired right now. Why do you have a baby?”

“Her name is Emi,” the Director informed. “She’s the baby who was in the wreck. Luckily she was unharmed. I’ve contacted authorities who are looking to see if she has any relatives, but unfortunately her mother died a couple weeks ago. The police think the father was exhausted after dealing with everything and fell asleep at the wheel.”

Hiiro winced hearing the news. “How old is she?”

“She’s only six months.”

“May I?” Hiiro approached before taking the baby into his arms. She yawned so he rocked back and forth seeing if she would fall asleep.

“Everything will be fine,” his dad whispered assuringly. “I’ll let you hang out with her a bit. She’s in room 2 in peds if you decide to take her back. Is there anything you need before I go home for the night?”

Hiiro glanced at the time, realizing how late it had gotten. He shook his head but asked, “When was she last fed.”

“One of the nurses fed her about an hour ago.”

He nodded and sat back down, looking between Emi who was blinking slowly and Emu who was still unconscious.

He felt himself growing tired after a while so he walked slowly down to the pediatric ward and placed the sleeping baby into her crib. He headed back to Emu’s room and drifted to sleep.

He was awoke again, this time by Parad and Poppy.

“Why don’t you get some sleep at home? It might be more comfortable,” Poppy suggested.

“I want to be here when he wakes up.”

“We’ll keep an eye on him and call you the second he starts to move,” Parad promised.

Hiiro sighed and gave in, “I’ll only be gone a couple hours.”

When he came back to the hospital he stopped in his dad’s office.

“You look better,” the director smiled.

Hiiro nodded, “I got more sleep, cooked some breakfast and got another shower.”

“How is your head feeling?”

“It hurts a bit, but so does everything else. Just normal after wreck soreness though.”

The phone started to ring so he waited while his dad answered.

The director shook his head after hanging up, “It seems Emi doesn’t have any living relatives left so she’ll go into foster care.”

Hiiro barely thought before the words came out of his mouth, “We’ll take her.”

His dad looked skeptical, “Emu has a lot of physical therapy ahead of him. Plus, you two just got engaged. Are you sure a baby is the right thing for you?”

“I know Emu would want to adopt her. Plus, I know Parad would be willing to help out if we need it.”

“They are coming to take her today. They’ll have to approve you and depending on the situation, I’m not sure if they will just need your information and background check or if they’ll need Emu’s too.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“You’re going to need baby supplies. Do you even have the room for her?”

“I’ll go pick some stuff up after they approve us. We were talking about getting a place together, but there’s extra room at my apartment.”

His dad smiled when he realized, “I’m going to be a grandpa?!”

Hiiro chuckled before remembering, “I’m going to go check on Emu.”

His dad waved as Hiiro exited the office.

Hiiro entered Emu’s room and noticed Parad sitting, playing a handheld game, “Hey.”

“Hey,” Parad answered without looking up.

“The baby in the wreck yesterday has no family. She’ll need to be adopted or go into foster care.”

Parad looked up and searched Hiiro’s face, “You want to take her?”

“I know Emu would, he wouldn’t even stop to think about it. But he’s going to need a lot of time to recover. I know he’d want her but would adopting her be the right decision with all of this going on?”

“Get her. She’ll help distract him when he’s stuck at home. It might make him heal faster. You know I’ll be there too. I don’t know much about babies, but Emu loves them so I’m sure I can pick up the basics.”

Hiiro nodded silently as he glanced at his unconscious fiancé, “I’ll go fill out the paperwork then.”

Hours later, Parad, Poppy, and Kiriya were watching Emi in Emu’s room when Hiiro and Taiga entered.

“We’ve bought everything we could think of to take care of a baby,” Taiga sighed before dropping a diaper bag on the floor.

“We even went and put together the crib at my house,” Hiiro added.

“Great!” Poppy smiled, “Even though babies don’t do much, she’s been really entertaining.”

“She did get fed and a diaper change about half an hour ago,” Kiriya spoke, knowing the surgeon would ask.

“Thank you.”

They chatted for a bit before the crowd piled out leaving Hiiro and Emi alone. He rocked her slowly until she fell asleep before laying her down in her small crib. He leaned against Emu’s bed, holding his fiancé’s hand until he fell asleep as well.

He woke up when he heard the heart monitor beeps picking up speed, “Emu?” After no response he tried again, “Emu? I’m here. Everything will be fine, so please wake up.”

After a moment he felt a light squeeze on his hand. He looked up and watched as Emu slowly opened his eyes, “Hiir…?”

“I’m here.”

Emu’s eyes followed the sound and he gave a sleepy smile. Hiiro grabbed a nearby cup of water and held the straw up to Emu’s mouth. After a few sips Emu asked, “What happened?”

“What do you last remember?”

Emu looked at the ceiling for a moment as if searching his thoughts, “leaving cabin?”

Hiiro nodded, “On the way home from the cabin someone drove into us. He hit your side of the car, which is why you are here in the hospital.”

“You ok?”

Hiiro gave a small smile, “Nothing major here. Just worried about you.”

Emi woke up hearing the talking and started crying. Emu looked confused, “Baby?”

Hiiro went and picked up Emi and rocked her in his arms as he sat back down. “The man who ran into us had a daughter, Emi. Unfortunately, he passed away when he hit us and she has no other family.”

“Can I see?”

Hiiro held Emi closer for Emu to see.

“She’s cute. What is going to happen with her?”

“Well… that’s the thing. I know you want kids, and she needs a family, so I’m adopting her.”

Emu’s wide eyes looked up at Hiiro, “She’s ours?”

“Yeah,” Hiiro nodded.

A few tears dripped from Emu’s eyes, “Thank you.”

“You have a long recovery ahead of you though, so I’ll do most of the caring for her for now,” Hiiro smiled.

A few months later:

“I can’t believe they are finally getting everyone out,” Poppy smiled.

“Do you think it will be weird meeting the person you infected?” Nico wondered.

“Parad and Emu are happy.”

“They aren’t a normal case,” Hiiro spoke as he looked through the window at the dozens of beds.

“Game disease wasn’t really normal to begin with,” Nico answered.

“They are all stable for now,” Taiga exited the room.

Poppy informed, “They said they would wake up soon. We need to be here to help them understand what happened.”

“The ministry is sending people to help people get back to their lives,” Kiriya approached. “The question is, will they be fully human again or will they be bugsters?”

“I think their families will just be happy to have them back either way,” Poppy thought.

Slowly, one by one the people woke up. A CR member would take them to a separate room to talk and then they’d go with a ministry worker.

“Hey,” Poppy smiled at Emu who just arrived.

“How is everything going?”

“Great. Most people are very understanding, just a little disoriented.”

“What do we need done?”

“Hiiro has the master folder and has been making sure everything is running smoothly. I haven’t seen him in a while though. He might have gone to his office.”

Emu nodded and headed down the hall. He knocked twice before entering, “Hiir…oh.” His eyes landed on Saki who was hugging Hiiro. Emu looked down over to Hiiro’s desk, “I just came to get this,” he spotted the folder and headed back out the door.

“Emu,” Hiiro called after him but he simply shut the office door and headed back to talk to Poppy.

“What’s wrong?” Poppy noticed the look on Emu’s face.

Emu shook his head, “I knew Saki would be here, I just didn’t think it would affect me as much.”

“She’s confused just like everyone else here. He’s a familiar face. Everything will be fine.”

Emu nodded as he walked over and started helping some of the patients. An hour later he pulled Poppy aside. “I can’t do this.”

“Still thinking about Saki?”

“It’s not that. All of these people are crying about the time they lost, or people that have since died and they didn’t get to say goodbye to. I feel responsible for it all. Not only was I patient zero, I could have done more to save people from Chronicle.”

“It was all Kuroto and his dad.”

“They might have started things, but because of my game disease and my bugster, all of these people got hurt.” Emu sighed, “I thought I could handle this. Fighting bugsters, great. Outsmarting Kuroto, fine. But seeing these people hurting and I can’t fix them is too much.”

“They just need time to get back on track.”

“I can’t be the hopeful help that they need. Doctors need to be strong for their patients, and I can’t do that right now.” He handed Poppy his papers, “I’ll be in pediatrics where I can actually help.”

A couple hours later Hiiro and Saki arrived at the game shop.

“Is Emu here?” Hiiro questioned.

Parad paused for a few seconds staring at Saki before he apologized, “Sorry, you just remind me of a friend.” He looked back at Hiiro, “M is upstairs playing a game. Emi is napping in my room, as long as he hasn’t been too loud.”

“Poppy mentioned that he went to check on the pediatric patients but he was gone when I went to find him.”

“They were surprisingly overstaffed,” Parad watched as the last customers left the store before he locked up the front door and led them up the stairs.

“Hey,” Hiiro spoke.

“Hey,” M stared at the screen as he quickly pressed buttons on the controller.

“Emu? You need to be heading home soon,” Parad approached.

M didn’t take his eyes from the screen, “I’m close to beating my high score.”

“You can pause and pick it up later.”

After watching for another minute, Parad went and unplugged the system.

M stood quickly and grabbed him by the collar, “What the hell was that for?!”

The group suddenly heard crying from the other room. M’s eyes darted toward the sound before he grasped on to Parad’s arm for support.

Parad helped Emu sit down before he knelt in front of him. “Emu?”

Emu blinked for a few seconds before his eyes focused back on Parad. “What happened?”

“You drowned out your problems with video games,” Parad smirked, “The usual.”

Emu looked around at Hiiro and Saki who were staring at him. He shook his head before standing up, “Sorry, what did I miss?” He registered the baby crying so he headed in and picked her up. After holding her for a few moments she calmed down.

“I was going to suggest we all have dinner so you can all get to know each other,” Hiiro started, “but if you aren’t feeling up to it, we can do it another time.”

“I’m fine, just need a minute for my brain to focus,” he admitted. He looked at Saki and smiled, “Sorry, I’m Emu, it’s nice to meet you.” He looked at the baby, “This is Emi, and that’s Parad.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said nervously. After a moment she wondered, “And your alter is M?”

“Alter?” Parad wondered.

“It’s a term sometimes used with DID, or more commonly known as multiple personality disorder,” Hiiro informed.

Emu laughed, “It’s complicated.”

“Am I one of your personalities?” Parad wondered.

“I am you,” Emu smirked.

“And you are me,” Parad answered.

“A psychologist would have a field day with us.”

Saki looked really confused at their discussion so Hiiro informed, “Remember earlier I told you there are some good bugsters?” After she nodded he mentioned, “Parad is Emu’s bugster.”

“Shouldn’t he have died?”

“I should have,” Emu responded. “It’s a very long story we can tell you sometime if you want the details.”

“Someone looks hungry,” Parad smiled at Emi.

“We should probably feed her. And ourselves,” Hiiro reminded.

“Right.”

They arrived at the restaurant and after ordering, Hiiro went to change Emi’s diaper.

“You really did get him to change,” Saki mentioned to Emu.

Emu raised an eyebrow, “He can still be a cold jerk sometimes.”

“He’s happier though,” she smiled. “Everything today has been such a shock. But realizing it has been almost ten years, I knew he wasn’t going to be the same Hiiro I remembered.”

“He really cares about you,” Emu answered, “He risked his life a few times trying to rescue you.”

“He told me that he couldn’t be what I needed. I don’t think I was what he needed either. Caring about someone isn’t always enough to make a relationship work,” she assessed. “Even just talking to him for a few hours I can tell he’s changed greatly. He smiles more and he’s not as harsh. You really have brought out a different side of him.”

Emu smiled but stayed quiet as he watched Hiiro and Emi return.

“What’s up?” Emu questioned Parad after a little while.

Parad shook his head, “They are nothing alike, but seeing her makes me miss Graphite.”

Emu nodded in understanding, “Even if we could respawn him, he might not be on our side.”

After dinner they went to part ways. “The ministry is setting everyone up with temporary apartments until we can get back on our feet,” Saki informed. “So I guess I’ll be heading there.”

“If you need anything let me know,” Hiiro ordered.

“We own the game shop, so you can stop by whenever,” Emu added. “Parad is almost always there even if I’m not.”

“Thanks. I will need some time to figure everything out and adjust first.”

“The apartments are near the shop, so I can walk you there if you’d like,” Parad offered.

“Sure,” Saki smiled.

Hiiro and Emu headed off in the other direction, with Hiiro grasping the baby carrier. Once they got far enough away Hiiro spoke, “I’m sorry if I made things awkward at all today.”

Emu shook his head, “If anything I did. I knew Saki would be back, and I guess seeing you with her in your office was a bit more of a shock than I expected. That wasn’t even my biggest problem of the day though. Seeing all the people learning they missed a huge gap of time was really hard.”

“I know you feel guilty.”

“Everyone tells me it’s not my fault. And I know it isn’t, but I still feel bad.”

Hiiro nodded, “Well, that’s what we are here for,” he motioned to Emi smiling, “to keep reminding you that it wasn’t your fault and to help you through it. It’s going to be rough helping these people get back to their lives, but I know it’s something we can do.”

Emu gave a soft smile at Hiiro’s confidence before nodding in agreement. He took Hiiro’s empty hand in his, giving it a light squeeze before continuing on.


End file.
